1. Field Of The Invention
The invention herein pertains to vehicle bodies and particularly to vehicle bodies for vans and pickup trucks which have a swingable tailgates.
2. Description Of The Prior Art And Objectives Of The Invention
In past years pickup trucks have had the majority of vehicle tailgates which swing from a raised, upright position to a lowered, horizontal position for ease and convenience in loading and unloading equipment or supplies to and from the truck bed. In recent years more and more vehicles such as station wagons, vans, four wheel drive vehicles and others are equipped with swingable tailgates to increase their convenience and functionality. Generally, all swingable tailgates create a gap between the end of the truck bed and the tailgate as the tailgate is lowered. This can cause difficulty and may provide an obstacle when loading or unloading heavy articles. Oftentimes wheels of carts which are used during loading become lodged within the gap and extra effort must be extended to dislodge the wheels. Also, when dirt and other particulate matter is carried on truck beds, loose particles oftentimes fall into the gap created for the tailgate hinge, causing the tailgate movement to jam.
In order to prevent these problems prior devices have been conceived such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,945 in which a resilient foldable mat is affixed between the bed and the tailgate. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,768 demonstrates a molded, single piece liner which includes a tailgate cover.
While the aforesaid devices are of benefit under certain circumstances, in other situations they do not provide the solutions or advantages sought, and it is with this in mind that the present invention was conceived. One of the objectives of this invention is thus to provide a rigid, pivotable connector affixed to the truck bed which will allow the user of the vehicle to easily load and unload heavy articles therefrom without concern of the gap between the tailgate and truck bed when the tailgate is lowered. (Rigid as used herein is to distinguish the present construction from prior art foldable or bendable connectors or the like.)
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a hinged tailgate connector which will pivot to a vertical position as the tailgate is raised and which will pivot to a horizontal, level posture when the tailgate is lowered.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a hingable tailgate connector which can be retrofit to any of the large variety of existing and new vehicles available to prevent dirt and other debris from falling into the tailgate hinge area.
Various other objectives and advantages of the present invention become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed presentation is set forth below.